Say I Do
by Nera Zenn
Summary: Au. The man she vowed eternal love to at the alter is not her husband, but her brother in law. Sesshomaru x Kagome.


_Say I do_**  
>Chapter One<strong> 

Never in her life had Kagome Higurashi ever felt so empty; so utterly alone.

Unease bubbled within her flip flopping stomach, spreading nausea throughout her entire petite form. Her porcelain skin was flushed, yet clammy, crystalline hues seeing nothing but red. Hushed whispers were being shared behind her, the thrum of quite talking bouncing off the mosaic covered walls. It was not hard to figure out that the crowds of people were solely talking about her.

The heat of their stares boring down on her back was enough to signal at that. She shifted slowly, the glowers making her want to squirm uncomfortably, but the mass of silk she was dressed in was restricting all movements. It was suffocating, constricting like a snake wrapped around her entire body. The more she moved, the harder it was to breathe. Her throat was dry, aching for some type of nourishment, but the more she swallowed to quell the parched feeling the more thirsty she had become.

The steams of the bouquet of daisies that she held had given an audible cry under the vice like grip, drawing her attention. Glancing downward, she glared at the white flowers, as if it would end the pure embarrassment that was threatening to drown her. She had blamed herself for letting it get this far, Kagome knew it was purely idiotic of her to put up with something like this, but deep down, something within her heart was silently hoping that things would turn around and turn around quickly.

This was supposed to be a happy day, one where nothing could go wrong. There were not supposed to be any problems, she wasn't supposed to have a care in the world.

But, here she stood, on her wedding day, _groomless._

Kagome's left eye twitched in utter annoyance while the hairs on the back of her neck stood up on edge from her sheer amount of anger. Perspiration was beginning to bead under the snowy veil upon her brow and she fought an urge to wipe it away. The only thing keeping her from blowing her cool and threatening the life of her silver haired lover was the cool and collected voice of Miroku, carrying on with the ceremony with or without the groom present.

Then again he was a friend of the family and most likely would not stop the wedding unless she downright told him to. They both knew the character of the male that she was supposed to be marrying and he missing their wedding day was not something that was too farfetched.

He seemed to miss a lot of days in their relationship; her birthday, their anniversary, Valentine's Day, even Christmas morning. Their wedding day could be another one chalked up on that list.

He wasn't always like that, however, Kagome knew of a time when Inuyasha actually cared about something other than himself. They had originally met when she was younger, a first year in high school. The hanyou was in his third year, completely cock and full of confidence, picking many fights wherever he went. His narcissistic ways ended up with him in a lot of trouble, which should have been the first red flag that she should have spotted.

In Inuyasha's eyes, he only looked after himself. That was just how he was. Love makes one blind, unfortunately, and Kagome had fallen head over heels.

She had almost tripped down a flight of stairs when they had first met, natural clumsiness mixing in with sheer exhaustion of late night studying for exams. Her misplaced footing had caused her to stumble forward, but the brash boy had caught her elbow before she could get too far.

Before she could even begin to thank him, Inuyasha had gone off and proceeded to mock her about how normal people know how to walk straight and that she should get some lessons from them.

All out war had broken out then.

It may have been the tiredness boring down on her shoulders that had made her snap or it just might have been the fact that she had never been spoken to like that in her life, but like a coiling snake, Kagome had struck and the two of them had an all out verbal spar in the middle of the corridor. They had lasted about ten minutes before she had neatly kicked him in the shin and stomped off muttering about how someone with cute fluffy ears atop their head could be so absolutely rude.

Sadly, that would not be the last tirade that they would have. By some odd twist of luck, they had run into each other more often on campus and he demanded an apology for his bruised shin. Kagome knew better, it was more his bruised pride that he was looking to soothe, but she would not give in to anything he had to say.

More disagreements commenced, glares were shared, and insults were passed off, but eventually tempers died down and conversations were had, laughs were shared, and a mutual love was beginning to form.

It was not until her senior year of high school that they had started dating. Inuyasha did not have enough money saved up to go to college, so he had worked odd jobs around town, anything that he could make a quick buck off of. Kagome had gone to school locally while helping out on the shrine that her family had owned. To them, all they had was each other and that was all they needed. The best of friends and the greatest of lovers.

Six months after she graduated from University, Inuyasha had gotten a call from his father, a man that the hanyou never spoke about nor did Kagome ever know of. She never pushed on the subject of his family, knowing quite well he would tell her if he wanted to, though she never realized she would be pushed into an all out family dispute. She didn't quite know the reasoning behind anything that had gone on, but from what she could figure; Inuyasha had left his family's home to be on his own. They still paid for his schooling, but there was no communication between them. All of that was about to change.

Toga had a proposition for his son; he was getting on in age and needed to think about his company's future. Both of his sons were needed to learn the ropes of the business and from their work effort and what they got done would decide who got what when Inutaisho retired.

The thought of something bigger and better for Kagome and himself made Inuyasha agree without hesitation. They would come into money, Inuyasha would work hard and make sure that he would climb to the top and the both of them would be set for life. It sounded like a wild fantasy, but he was so excited about something bigger than the both of them, that Kagome simply didn't want to put a damper on his parade.

It wasn't long before things had hit a rough spot. It was full of late nights, missed dates, no phone calls, and a lot of arguing. It was a plate load that Inuyasha didn't expect, but if he was able to pamper and dot on Kagome, it didn't matter. He was doing this for them, or so he told her.

It wasn't long—possibly only after a few weeks of the new job—that Kagome had come to realize of his infidelity. At first, she had brushed it off, he wouldn't cheat on her. That was simply impossible. He wouldn't stay with her and sleep with other women.

Every day she told herself those words, but after a few more months, the signs became more and more apparent. At first it was simply intuition, but when she caught whiffs of perfume on his clothes while doing the laundry, or smudges of makeup on his button down shirts while she hung them up in the closet, she had known that what she kept telling herself was not true at all.

He was cheating and he was cheating on_ her_.

It was not until there was a picture of him with his arms around another woman plastered all over a sleazy tabloid that she had brought up the subject. It was their first true fight as a couple. They screamed and yelled, she cried, and he left. It wasn't until days later that he had shown back up at their flat, promising that he would change and that he had loved her no matter what.

What a load of bullshit that was.

Unfortunately, she loved him no matter what situation that he had put her through. Kagome blindly believed every lie that had fallen from his lips. Every time she had seen another piece of evidence that showed he was unfaithful, she would always ask herself why she remained at his side. Why did she put herself through all this emotional turmoil when she knew damn well he would never change for her?

The answer to that question was a simple one. She knew quite well why she remained by his side. She loved him, plain and simple. She seriously thought he could have changed. She hoped, night and day, that somewhere deep down there was a part of him that would come to return her feelings tenfold once he had come to realize that despite all his flaws she would love him no matter what. Inuyasha could have been a beggar on the street and she would have still loved him for what he was. It was not his wealth of his fame that had attracted her to him, it was his entire being.

To her, he was one of a kind, a diamond in the rough. To others he was brash, crude, and downright nasty, but when his molten golden orbs had landed on her, she could have sworn that they had softened the tiniest bit and when he had whispered those sweet nothings in her ear as they laid down in their bed in the early hours of the morning, she could swear that he was coming to love her bit by bit.

She told herself over and over that it was possible.

When he had gotten down on one knee and asked her for her hand in marriage, Kagome was sure that all her patience and prayers had finally been answered. That it was the day that the man she had been pinning after for all these years had finally come to his senses and began to love her truly and purely. It was like a dream come true.

It was like she was floating on cloud nine, but a storm was not far off.

A loud cough had echoed through the church hall then, snapping the raven haired beauty from her thoughts. Cobalt hues looked towards Miroku, who still seemed to be reciting something from a golden pages bible. It was then that Kagome had noticed that her whole lithe body was trembling slightly. Trying to get her nerves about her, she stilled her quivering muscles in attempt to muster some type of vigor to get through this ceremony, find her soon to be ex-husband and neatly put him in his place.

"…gome." Eyes that were distant had come back to vivid life as Kagome focused back on the present ceremony at hand. Miroku was glancing at her with slight worry in his violent eyes. Peach tinted lips quirked in a small half hearted smile to let him know that he had gained her attention and that she was doing just fine.

"It's time for the sharing of the vows Kagome." He had whispered across to her, his eyes drifting towards the vacant spot next to her before he locked eyes with her once more, uncertainty wavering in his gaze. Blue battled purple in attempt to figure out what to do with this entire situation. She knew that he was worried with proceeding, seeing as it was usually the groom who stated his vows first, but with no groom here Miroku didn't know what to do exactly.

"It's alright; I'm just going to call this whole thing off anyway. There is just no use..." The sentence that was flowing from her lips was cut off when there was a starling amount of gasps coming from behind her, the vacancy of the area next to her was soon being filled with the warmth of a body.

"I do." Was the nonchalant droll that came from the man next to her.

Miroku snapped his gaze up to the man as soon as he had approached the altar, his eyes widening a faction before humor soon filled their depths. Kagome had slowly turned her head to the side, slowly taking in the stock of the now towering presence that was filling her would-be husband's position. Golden hues looked bore down on her tiny frame with complete and utter boredom while Kagome's startled sapphires looked up at her would be brother-in-law.

"S-Sesshomaru. What on Earth are you doing here?" She had all but screeched.

"Your vows please, Kagome." Miroku had urged, looking back and forth between the two, failing miserably to hide his mirth.

"Ah, um. I do. I mean-wait-we shouldn't do this I'm going to divor.." Her words neatly cut off when a large hand clasped itself right over her mouth, eyes alight with anger and confusion turned towards Sesshomaru, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

He bent down a bit, for Kagome only reached his mid-chest at full height without high heels on, hot breath ghosting her ear as he whispered to her, "I'll stand in for my brother. Plus, the cancelation fee is much too high and will be a waste."

A spark of anger ran through her eyes then, but he still had not removed his hand from her person so she could speak. She had only met Sesshomaru a few times, most of the time when she had stopped at the Taisho family mansion for a small dinner that they liked to host. Inuyasha always dragged her along and she now realized that it was most likely because if he had brought another girl home his parents would become suspicious as to her whereabouts.

The silver haired male was stoic and unfriendly, a type of person that Kagome found it somewhat difficult to converse with. They had short and crisp conversations very now and then, but other than that they avoided each other like the plague.

The urge to bite him ran through her mind, but that would only cause further embarrassment on her part. He straightened then, took one quick glance at the crowd before he looked back down at her, something new in those smoldering amber depths of his. It slowly took her breath away, causing her to choke on what air she had in her lungs.

Slowly he had removed his hand, fingers trailing on her skin lightly as they departed. "I vow a thousand times, never to let you leave my side." His words were soft spoken and seemingly sincere. However, Kagome knew better, that he was just playing the part that he was given. That didn't stop the small flush that blossomed on her pale skin; mouth slightly ajar from the sheer shock of it all. There was something in his eyes that kept her hypnotized.

It was like he was looking through to her very soul, searching for something that he desperately needed.

"M-me too." She had breathed out, slowly. "I won't leave you." Kagome didn't know why she said the words, but for some reason there was such a strong desire within her to confirm to him that she would never leave that she had said the words without thinking. His vow was one that had no emotion, simply words that were said to get the ceremony over with, but it was still able to draw this type of reaction out of her and she didn't know why.

There was a shift in his gaze then, an emotion filling those endless golden depths. She couldn't put a finger it, but to her it almost looked like contentment. A moment passed between them then, the church, the guests, even the priest forgotten.

They just stared at each other, reaching some type of understanding.

Kagome just vowed eternal love to a man that she hardly even knew and he was now her brother-in-law. 

* * *

><p><strong>Ja Mata Ne.<br>Nera**


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